Saturday, 27 April 2013

Promo Videos

Work in the film industry is invariably top end, but with big budgets comes long hours and high pressure. Directors are used to being surrounded by highly skilled professionals with a can do attitude, so you'll make yourself few friends if you keep a crew of 50 waiting while you re-render the files that are often provided for playback.

Thankfully as well as being a core component of live visuals, Modul8 is an ideal tool for fine tuning projections in real-time and with projection spilling out into everywhere, its no surprise that high power projectors are now popular methods for providing instant backdrops on film sets. While deepvisual have been working as projectionists on films for many years, recently we've also been asked to provide playback as well, in the form of versatile and instantaneous video manipulation via the magic of Modul8. Directors can now have video parameters tweaked instantly to their requirements.
LT clip control module is invaluable for this particular kind of work, enabling accurate cueing, pause and playback all in one panel.. no more setting the playback speed to zero to pause a clip. You'll find a MIDI controller handy too. The Korg Nano comes with me to every gig.

One thing the DOP will be needing is a scan rate from the projector that matches the frame rate on the camera. This isn't as easy as it sounds as the conventional refresh rates of computer monitors and projectors create horrific scan lines on projected footage in camera.

If you find yourself using adult projectors like the Christie Roadsters, you can set the EDID out to camera friendly rates such as 1080 25p, otherwise you'll be needing the services of a DVI parrot or my personal favourite, the Kramer EDID recorder. Failing that, you can always fall back on SwitchResX.

Another very important thing to remember is to read the call sheet before you turn up and make a point of learning the first names of everyone on set. That way you'll fit into the production family like a long lost friend, which will come in really handy when you need help lifting the projector onto that scissor lift..